The
result of the opinion poll regarding the prohibition on the members of National
Assembly holding other jobs for the purpose of making profits, Requested by
Ohmynews to Researchview
(Picture:
Ohmynews)
The
Center of the Freedom of Information (CFOI) has once disclosed the list of
members of the 18th National Assembly who hold additional jobs and
receive compensation. It was shown that a large number of them serve as the
member of the National Assembly concurrently with other professional types of
jobs such as a lawyer and professor. What about the members of the 19th
National Assembly? The CFOI has requested information disclosure regarding
their additional jobs.
According
to the <Present State of Additional Jobs Reported by the Members of the 19th
National Assembly>, the members of the 19th National Assembly are
holding 194 additional jobs and 96 of 300 members hold more than one additional
job. This is approximately 32% of the entire members of the National Assembly.
This is a decreased amount compared to the previous time when 42.8% (June
2011), which means 127 out of 297 members of the 18th National
Assembly held additional jobs.
Having
looked at this issue per party, among 96 members holding additional jobs,
Saenuri and Democratic United Party had 55 and 39 members each and Progressive
Justice Party and non-partisan had 1 member each.
It
was Hyun Young-hee who had the largest number of additional jobs among all.
Hyun Young-hee is serving as a president in 4 organizations including Busan Skating Union, Federation of Busan
Love Bike, the Busan headquarter of National Bike Riding Movement Headquarters
and the supporting association of Busan National University of Education
and she is also the co-representative of Korean
Women Politics Association. She is holding additional jobs at 9
organizations in total.
In
addition to this, Kim Jeong-rok and Yoon Jin-sik of the Saenuri party and Choi
Dong-ik from the Democratic united party are holding additional jobs. Kim
jeong-rok is the CEO of CPL and the president of Korean Association of Persons with Physical Disabilities. Yoon
Jin-sik is the advisor of Korean Customs
Brokers Association, the president of Korea
Institute for National Unification and Economics and the honorary chairman
of the Golf Association of Chungju.
Choi Dong-ik is the president of Korea
Blind Union and Korea Association of
Welfare Center for the disabled and the representative of the Korea Differently Abled Federation.
The
fact that there are numerous lawyers and professors among the members of the
National Assembly has been consistently criticized. As for the lawyers, there
is a potential of receiving political funds. As for the professors, they are
keeping their positions without giving lectures under the name of an adjunct
professor or guest professor. Being aware of the criticism, the candidates, who
were also licensed lawyers themselves, pledged in the 2011 April general
election that they will not hold additional jobs when they are elected.
However,
there are still a large number of members who hold additional jobs as lawyers
and professors (incl. adjunct and guest professors). Among 96 members who hold
additional jobs, 32 hold the professor position and 21 holds the lawyer
position. Moreover, 14 of the 21 members holding additional jobs as lawyers
have been receiving compensation from the law firms they belong to.
The
National Assembly is generally recognized as “Lazy National Assembly” and “The
National Assembly with all the privileges”. Due to this, there is a great
distrust towards the politics. Would the citizens think the members of the
National Assembly are doing their best in parliamentary activities when they
are holding numerous jobs at the same time as a tool to add some more lines on
their resumes? The members of the National Assembly, who gets paid by our
taxes, receive double income while holding an additional job as a lawyer at the
law firms. Would this make them appear transparent from the perspective of the
citizens? It seems there is still a long way to go for the National Assembly to
gain recognition from the public.